1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to, but is not limited to, cleaning open areas and, more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for cleaning open and/or outdoor areas that are hard-to-reach or generally considered inaccessible to conventional outdoor cleaning equipment.
2. History of Related Art
Cleaning of outdoor areas, such as street cleaning, has existed for many decades. After paved streets were developed, street cleaners, also often referred to as street sweepers, became a necessity because of a large-scale need to remove waste from horses and other animals deposited in public areas. Use of rotary brooms to remove such material from paved surfaces is one method that has been used for years by modem mechanical street-cleaning machines. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9ccleaningxe2x80x9d comprises sweeping, vacuuming, and/or blowing. The term xe2x80x9coutdoorxe2x80x9d comprises all areas that can be cleaned by commercial cleaning machines, including but not limited to streets, parking lots, and garages.
Street-cleaning machines that use moving air have been developed to clean open shopping centers, parking garages, and parking lots that have become ubiquitous in today""s modem society. Machines that use moving air often employ either a pure vacuum or a regenerative-air system in which the air is recycled. Some machines employ brushes and/or moving water. In many regenerative-air systems, air flow created by a fan or blower is forced through a narrow channel to an enclosed pick-up head riding on a paved surface. The air and debris on the surface are then picked up by a vacuum created by the fan or blower, the debris is collected, and the air is then used to clean the surface again.
Street-cleaning machines, which are often referred to as street-sweeping machines and are typically automotive vehicles, have at least one inherent drawback in that they can only clean surfaces over which they can travel. Thus, obstructed areas, uneven areas, as well as any other areas that a street-cleaning machine cannot travel over or are otherwise hard-to-reach or are inaccessible to the street-cleaning machine cannot be cleaned with the same efficiency that is possible in more open areas.
Hand brooms and small, portable leaf blowers are sometimes used in conjunction with street-cleaning machines to move debris from inaccessible or hard-to-reach areas into the path of the street-cleaning machine. Typical inaccessible or hard-to-reach areas include sidewalks, islands, corners of buildings, bumper curbs, light poles, and stairwells at shopping centers. Use of hand brooms or leaf blowers generally involves two steps and may require two people. A first person blows or sweeps off the inaccessible or hard-to-reach area as the first person walks down it. A second person, a driver, drives the street-cleaning machine and collects the debris swept or blown out into the path of the street-cleaning machine.
If two persons are not involved in the process of cleaning the inaccessible or hard-to-reach area, the driver must periodically dismount from the street-cleaning machine, walk across the inaccessible or hard-to-reach area, blow or sweep the debris into the machine""s path, and then mount the street-cleaning machine and drive over the debris. Both the two-person process and the one-person process described above are less efficient and more costly than if the driver were able to clean the inaccessible or hard-to-reach area without needing to dismount the street-cleaning machine.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for cleaning hard-to-reach or inaccessible areas that permit a single person driving a street-cleaning machine to be able to clean the hard-to-reach or inaccessible areas.
The present invention is directed to a cleaning apparatus and method that satisfy the needs set forth above. The cleaning apparatus of the present invention comprises a wheeled chassis, a device operable to collect debris traveled over by the chassis attached to the chassis, at least one blower attached to the chassis, at least one duct attached to at least one of the at least one blower, and a device operable to control a volume per unit time of the air flow. The at least one duct in combination directs an industrial-capacity air flow toward an area adjacent to the apparatus. The industrial-capacity air flow preferably can be generated independently of a function of the apparatus of collecting debris being traveled over by the chassis. Generation of the air flow preferably does not diminish a capacity of the apparatus to simultaneously collect debris being traveled over by the chassis. In a preferred embodiment, the air flow is adjustable and at least one of the ducts is directionally adjustable. These adjustments can be made via remote control. An instrument for selectively and rapidly reducing air flow through the at least one duct permits debris moved by the apparatus to not be scattered once it is in a desirable location.
A method having features of the present invention comprises the steps of providing an apparatus capable of collecting debris traveled over by the apparatus, directing an industrial-capacity air flow toward a first area adjacent to the apparatus, moving debris located in the first area using the air flow until the debris is no longer located in the first area, and collecting the debris by traveling over the debris with the apparatus. The step of moving preferably further comprises the step of collecting debris located outside the first area during execution of the moving step. The step of moving preferably comprises driving the machine. The direction of the air flow and the air flow per unit time can preferably be adjusted via remote control from a driver""s position of the machine.